Why Writing a Cheque to a Charity Isn’t Enough

When the American businessman, investor, author, activist & motivational speaker Robert Kiyosaki said:

“Many people start a business only to make money. Just to make money is not a strong enough mission”.

He was right about money being just one part of a much bigger picture. Think about some of the most successful businesses—Apple, Ford, Virgin, and others—that started with a bigger purpose and have been thriving for decades.

These businesses made their mission a reality, generated huge amounts of money, and became leaders in their industries. However, this was more of a bonus than the core purpose of their existence. The founders of these companies aimed to do more than generate profits – they sought to change people’s lives for the better through the products they created.

When it comes to corporate social engagement and impact, the same applies. Giving away money is simply not enough. If you genuinely want to create a long-lasting impact that will make a difference you need to put your heart into your cause. There needs to be a deeper underlying motivation, some sort of passion if you will and dedication that goes beyond donating a certain amount of money every month or every year.

Money is undoubtedly important but the truth is, there’s no single organisation or individual that can eradicate a social or an environmental issue by simply giving money away. Not even extremely wealthy individuals such as Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, who are passionate philanthropists, can make that happen. Even if they gave away all they had, it would still not be enough.

The thing about money is, it’s not just about what you spend but how you spend it. Many charities, which some businesses partner with solely to “tick” the CSR box on their agendas, focus on addressing the symptoms of social injustice rather than tackling the root causes of the problems. We can keep pouring money into these non-profits forever, but we will never solve the problems. It creates a vicious circle.

Why? Because for money to make an impact, it needs to create the so-called multiplier effect. We need to spend it to design and establish a model that is not only sustainable but also encourages the continuous involvement of more people, greater passion, and additional resources. And writing a cheque to a charity often doesn’t do that for many reasons. Here are a few.

No sense of pride among employees

Engagement thrives on action, not just numbers. Empower employees to actively participate in creating meaningful impact.

Employees, who should be the most passionate advocates of your organisation’s philanthropic efforts, can’t truly feel a sense of pride because they don’t actively participate in making an impact. Even if you donate a huge amount of money (and let’s face it, most businesses can’t afford that), your employees only know that you donated the money, and that’s it. Oftentimes, they wouldn’t even know what this money goes towards. In other words, chequewriting doesn’t mean anything to your employees, it doesn’t create any engagement. Hence, it doesn’t help create the community and support for the multiplier effect to happen.

No customer engagement

The same is true about your customers. Why should they care that you donate whatever amount of money to a charity they mightn’t even know what problems are dedicated to solving? As already mentioned, for your philanthropic endeavors to have an impact, you need a community around your cause to support it. You need people to care and people only care when they are passionate about something and can see the impact directly. How can you inspire your customers to feel passionate about your business giving money away if they don’t see the impact it makes and don’t feel involved? Include them in the story, give them opportunities to participate, and help them feel proud to associate with your business. That on its own could make a much bigger difference than a cheque even if a big one.

No control over the impact being made

When partnering with a charity, it’s important to work closely with them. Ensure they are a charity you trust. Otherwise, you may not know how your money is spent. Oftentimes, your money will go towards paying salaries and overheads. While this is ok when the non-profit does make a difference in the community, you probably want to do more than just cover their bills, don’t you? In this case, there’s no direct link between the money donated and the impact made. This disconnect makes the process impersonal. As a result, it feels unengaging.

No optimum impact

Money alone may provide temporary relief, but offering your time, skills, and resources creates a sustainable impact by addressing the root causes of problems.

You could have given your time, resources, knowledge, or talent. Any of these could have made a bigger difference. Instead, you donated money. A charity may use the money to hire or purchase what you could have provided directly. Offering your services instead engages your employees. It can even involve your customers in your mission. This isn’t the end of the world. A non-profit using that money to build a sustainable model can address the root causes. This helps eradicate problems rather than just alleviating symptoms. When this happens, your money is mostly wasted. It’s just a temporary fix that helps no one in the long run.

I’m not advocating against donating money and helping charities financially. Money plays an important role and we all need it, of course. All I’m saying is, firstly, money does not mean everything, and secondly, when people spend it on charity, they should spend it wisely. Ultimately, giving aims to solve a specific social or environmental problem. But to achieve that, we must design a healthy, sustainable model that cures the problem rather than creating a temporary fix. A key part of the model is community-wide awareness and involvement. It goes beyond a single non-profit. Money and volunteers alone aren’t enough. Which brings us back to the main point – just money is not enough.

As a philanthropy consultant, I understand the challenges business owners face. They are focused on ensuring their organizations survive and grow. Thinking about philanthropy can often feel overwhelming amidst these demands. Creating and putting in place a good social engagement model that makes a difference could be a challenge. If you feel you want to start creating an impact as well as growing your business, please don’t hesitate to contact me.